Three of a Kind
by Lynnlee22
Summary: Joey and Kelly (OLTL), Billy and Phyllis (YR), Dinah and Shayne (GL)
1. Chapter 1

Billy stepped into the bar, the smell of stale smoke and strong liquor causing him to wince a bit in spite of himself. For as much as he'd like to consider himself a "man's man", his last name afforded him a sort of privilege—the sort of privilege that allowed one to avoid bars like this if that was your intention.

He sighed as he spotted an empty seat near the middle of the flat top. Avoidance wasn't on his agenda tonight. He was barreling head first, straight towards disaster in typical Billy Abbott fashion. Might as well give the people what they expect and, secretly, what he always suspected they wanted. He was the old, reliable screw up, the one someone always had to save. He'd always hated being saved before…until it was by her….

The bartender stood in front of him for a moment, saying nothing before finally exhaling a puff of air and nodding slightly. "I don't think I've seen you in here before—You new in town?"

Billy sighed as he slumped down onto the stool. "No. I just wanted something different. Got stuck in the same old routine, you know?"

"Sure. Yeah. What can I get ya?"

"Scotch. Neat."

"Scotch?"

Billy turned towards the voice and watched as the raised head nodded towards the bartender before looking back at him.

"You must be new," he said, half laughing as he extended his hand a greeting, "Once you've been here a while, you realize you have to switch to a cheaper vice." He held up his bottle of beer and took a long drink. "Unless of course, you're swimming in that family money like our friend over here."

"I told you," the man a few stools down muttered good naturedly, "I'm not living off family money. The whole reason I'm in this town was to get away from all that. We came here to get away from our family and all that mess so we could live our own lives." He shook his head as he too reached for his drink.

"And clearly that's going very well for him," he scoffed, finally taking Billy's hand and shaking it. "The name's Shayne, Shayne Lewis."

"Nice to meet you," Billy muttered, forcing a smile as he returned the handshake. "Billy Abbott."

Shayne gestured to the man on the other side of them. "That's Joey." He paused a moment, posturing for effect, "Joseph Buchanan."

Joey shook his head again. "Asshole," he muttered as he grinned and nodded in greeting towards Billy. He stood, moving down a few stools to sit closer to the two men. "Besides, it's not like you came from a family of carpetbaggers yourself Mr. I own my Great Grandaddy's construction company."

"Fair enough," Shayne took another drink from his bottle as he shrugged. "So, Billy, right?"

"Yeah," he muttered, reaching across the bar and taking the glass the bartender slid across to him.

Shayne watched him for a moment, at the way he stared into the liquid in the glass. "What's her name?"

Billy turned his head quickly, his eyes immediately widening in interest. Had he really been that transparent? "What?"

Joey laughed a bit. "Don't feel bad," he sighed, slapping him on the back lightly with his hand. "He read me just as easily. I think it has a lot to do with the watch."

He moved his wrist a bit, his eyes looking down at the watch that rested there. "My watch?" he muttered.

"Yeah..you know. It's a nice watch, expensive. Guys that can afford watches like that can afford nicer bars than this and if you can afford a nicer bar than this, you go to a nicer bar. Generally if you choose to go to a bar like this it's to get away from something or someone or…"

Shayne interrupted, "Or to forget about something or someone….In most cases a female someone. We've all been there…several times." He watched as Billy's head dropped a bit. "So," he said again, "What's her name?"

* * *

Joey stepped back over to the table stumbling a bit as he sat the three frosty mugs of beer down. "Sorry," he grinned as he let his body fall down into the chair, "So," he sighed, "What did I miss?"

"Not much," Shayne muttered, his voice slurring slightly as he raised the glass in front of him. "We're still waiting on Billy here to share his tale of misery."

"You know what, it's okay. It is…I get it. It can be hard to open up especially when you've got your heart broken and it's fresh." Joey looked at Billy, his head tilting a bit. "This looks fresh," he whispered, nodding a bit as he glanced at Shayne for confirmation. "I think it's fresh."

Shayne nodded. "Yeah, looks fresh."

"Mine's been years and it still hurts like hell….like hell I tell ya. My girl..it was like something out of a movie…like a fairy tale romance. We met when we were in high school and we fell in love. Our families didn't get along—never had. Like some Shakespeare shit, but we made it. We didn't let it stop us. We fought through it. We got married and then….." He shook his head, bringing the glass to his lips and taking a long drink. "My own brother, man…."

"Your brother?" He heard the words as they came from his mouth, already hanging in the air before he had a chance to stop them. "What did your brother have to do with it?"

Joey narrowed his eyes a bit. "Yeah..Kelly..She.. uh…she fell in love with my brother and he was in love with her. It was all pretty messed up and even after all of it—even after I knew about it, knew she'd been with him, knew she wanted to be with him, I still can't get her out of my head, can't get her out of my heart. Even now, even after years and years without her, I still feel like something's missing."

"It's the worst when you see people together doing stuff you always talked about doing isn't it?" Shayne's voice was low and gravely as he looked up from the cup he held in his hand. "Dinah—that was her name. Dinah and I always wanted to just be together and have fun and live our life. We wanted to travel and go on adventures. It was the simple stuff, really..stuff like flying kites, seeing movies, going bowling, throwing baseballs..." His voice trailed off as if his mind was drifting back to memories too far back in his mind. The look in his eyes was one of immense sadness and Billy connected with it immediately. His voice was slightly louder as it sounded again. "She made a mistake." He stopped, thinking for a moment. "Hell, I don't even know if it was a mistake. She probably saved who knows how many lives…but she ruined her own and she was too afraid of what might happen to stay and face it. We lost our chance to be happy and I lost her. I couldn't stay in that town and try to move on. Everything there reminded me of her, of the life we'd planned, of the dreams we'd shared. I couldn't watch that dream die over and over again every day. I thought leaving would make it better, but it doesn't. Now it just dies for me here..every single day."

"You do get it," Billy said softly, "And don't take this the wrong way but talking to the two of you doesn't exactly make me feel real optimistic about things getting better."

Shayne huffed a bit, forcing a smile. "Yeah, no one's gonna lie to ya here, buddy. It doesn't get any better, but the beer's good and the company understands. There's that." He lifted his mug towards him. "So, you gonna tell us about her?"

Billy nodded. "Her name's Phyllis and she was married when we got together. Neither of us meant for it to happen. We were friends…good friends, but somewhere along the way it became more. I started to rely on her and she started to depend on me. I could be myself with her without apology and she could be honest with me about anything and everything. When I was with her, I was free. I never felt judged. I never felt condemned. She accepted me for exactly who and what I was and she loved me for it. I was happy with her. I could breathe with her and now…she's gone and it's like she's taken all the air, all the light, and everything else that was good with her."

"Yeah," Shayne whispered. "I know that feeling."

"I don't know what to do," Billy said quietly as he reached into his pocket. "I keep starting at this picture and I don't know whether to burn it or keep it or…"

A quick burst of air escaped Joey's lips and he reached into his own back pocket pulling out his wallet and reaching inside. Across the table, Billy's eyes followed Shayne who was doing the same thing.

"Don't feel bad," Joey said, his eyes full of compassion and understanding. "We all have the picture. You can burn it, but you'll find another one…guaranteed because the truth is, you can't handle not seeing her even though it hurts like hell. Mine is from almost twenty years ago." He sighed as he flipped over the picture. "Kelly," he breathed.

"Eight years maybe…give or take?" Shayne said, looking up at them and shrugging a bit as he let the glossy paper slide from his fingertips. "It's crazy, but I mean….it's Dinah"

Billy nodded, swallowing hard before allowing the words to leave his lips, the picture fluttering onto the table. "Phyllis," he whispered, "It's her."


	2. Chapter 2

"Do you want any more before I toss this?" Kelly held out the tray of sushi towards the two girls as she wrinkled up her nose.

"Ugh. God no," Dinah groaned. "I don't think I could eat one more morsel. I never eat this much when I'm alone. You two are a terrible influence on me."

Phyllis scoffed. "Yeah, we're the bad influence." She rolled her eyes with a good natured smile. "As I recall this little bitch and binge was your idea." She grinned as she snatched a roll off the tray as Kelly walked by.

Dinah sighed as she sat down on the overstuffed sofa. "Yes it was." She waited for Kelly to reenter the room. "I thought we needed to talk." She glanced back at Kelly who nodded in agreement.

"Dinah's right," she said, her eyes wide as she looked at Phyllis. "We're kind of worried about you."

"Worried about me?" Phyllis chewed silently before swallowing hard. "Why?"

"Maybe worried is the wrong word." Dinah leaned forward a bit. "We don't want to see you get stuck in a rut. It's just…you've been in town over a month and I haven't seen you look at a guy or talk to a guy or talk about a guy…"

"Wait a minute, it's not like the two of you are knocking down doors over here…I don't see either one of you out tonight?"

"That's different." Kelly protested quickly. "We have dated. It just didn't work out."

"Right." Dinah agreed. "We've been in relationships, but you…you don't even seem to be willing to give it a try and we just don't want to see you give up the chance to be happy again. You've got way too much to offer someone. I mean, you're gorgeous and…"

Phyllis laughed out loud as she covered her mouth with her hand. "That's interesting coming from the two of you…." She smiled as she looked at them, her head shaking slowly. "Look. I appreciate it. I really do. It means a lot that you care. I never would have thought I would have ended up….that we would have ended up here."

"You can say that again," Kelly muttered. "If you'd told me a few years ago that I'd be sitting here with the two of you, I'd have told you that you were crazy."

"It certainly sounded crazy to me," Dinah said softly….

 _"_ _So what exactly are your plans, Ms. Marler? Once you're released, you're going to need a place to live, a legitimate job, a means of support…Do you have anything lined up?" Alexis Davis stared across the table at a woman that could have just as easily been her. She got another chance and it seemed only right that she do what she could to make sure others were afforded the same opportunity._

 _"_ _I don't know honestly," Dinah said softly. "I do know that I didn't come back here to fall back into the same old patterns. I turned myself in. I made this deal because I didn't want to be on the run anymore. I wanted to make amends for the things I've done, for the lies I've told. I want to try and make things better for the people I've hurt…if that's possible."_

 _Alexis nodded. Amends. She knew all about those. "All you can do is try," she said softly with a smile. "The first you'll need is a stable income. What type of work have you done in the past?"_

 _Dinah drew in a deep breath. "I actually owned a news studio in Springfield for a few years. It was successful. I enjoyed it. I was good at it. I miss that…being good at something."_

 _"_ _News?" Alexis thought for a moment. "Tell you what, I'm going to make a call and see if a contact of mine might be able to set you up with a job at a media company. I can't make any promises, but I'm in pretty tight with the owner and I'm pretty confident I can work something out."_

 _"_ _That would be incredible." Dinah's eyes lit up as she looked across the table. "I would really, really appreciate it. Thank you so much."_

 _"_ _Not a problem," Alexis said with a smile, "You just hang in there and with any luck I'll have you out of here within the week on a work release."_

 **3 Days Later**

 _"_ _Would you let go of me!?" Kelly squealed as she struggled to walk ahead of the officer. "I'm telling you this is some kind of a mistake. If you'll just stop and listen to me…"_

 _The officer sighed in frustration. "Listen lady—if I had a dollar for every time I supposedly arrested the wrong person, I wouldn't need this lousy job…now how about you just shut your mouth and cooperate before I have to add a resisting arrest charge?"_

 _"_ _I used to own a newspaper you know," she huffed. "I work for Derek Wells Media and I will make sure this is splashed across every media outlet I can get my hands on!"_

 _"_ _Yeah..Yeah..Yeah," he muttered, pointing to a small chair by the desk. "Just sit down here."_

 _Alexis Davis slowed as she walked through the bullpen. "Excuse me," she said, grabbing the officer as he passed by. "Who is that woman sitting there?"_

 _"_ _Oh," he smiled, "Yeah, that would be your client, Dinah Marler…the one I believe you were just about to clear to vacate the premises on a work release." He scoffed. "I don't think that's going to be happening."_

 _"_ _Funny thing," she said, leaning in a bit closer, "I just saw Dinah Marler no less than five minutes ago. I'm not sure who that is, but it's not Ms. Marler."_

Kelly smiled as she held the glass while Dinah poured the wine. "Thanks," she breathed. "I need a glass of wine even remembering it. That was not one of my better days."

"Yeah, you poor thing…you were arrested for ten minutes….that high class oppression must be tough." She grinned as she leaned back in the chair. "And you.." She raised her glass towards Phyllis, "You just missed all the fun."

 _"_ _Hey!" Julian reached out, finally catching up and managing to grasp her shoulder. He shot her a confused look as she turned around to face him. "Didn't you hear me calling you?"_

 _Phyllis blinked at the man behind her. "Excuse me?"_

 _He smiled. "I know you're technically off the clock and all, but something's come up and I could really use your help with this."_

 _She shook her head. "Do I know you?"_

 _"_ _Ok, listen most days I would find your quirky sense of humor charming, but today I don't have time, Kelly. I really need you to work with me here and drop whatever this attitude is and come with me to…"_

 _"_ _I'm not Kelly," Phyllis said sternly, taking a step back._

 _Julian laughed. "What do you mean you're not Kelly?"_

 _Phyllis glared at him. "I mean, I'm not Kelly. My name is Phyllis and I've been in this town all of about seventeen minutes which has been about sixteen too long."_

 _"_ _You're serious," he sighed. "You're really not Kelly Cramer."_

 _"_ _No. I'm not." Phyllis sighed as she ran her hands through her hair. "I need a drink," she muttered._

 _"_ _There's a place not far..The Floating Rib," he said quietly. "It's a good place. I'm sorry about this…" He stood and watched as she walked away still a bit befuddled by the entire event. Shaking his head, he sighed and headed in the other direction._


End file.
